5/26/2004 @ 6:00AM

Q&A: Hewlett-Packard's Vyomesh (VJ) Joshi

What follows is the transcript of a Forbes.com Infoimaging online chat with
Vyomesh (VJ)
Joshi
Vyomesh (VJ) Joshi
, the director of
Hewlett-Packard
‘s imaging and printing division. The chat was hosted by
Penelope
Patsuris
Penelope Patsuris
of Forbes.com.

Fdceditors: Good afternoon everyone, and thank you for joining us. Today we have the pleasure of speaking with VJ Joshi, who is Hewlett-Packard’s chief of imaging and printing. He has a lot to say about the future of digital imaging. VJ, in this realm what do you think will be the most important business and tech trends in the next few years?

VJ Joshi: There are four key trends. The first one is a big improvement in ease of use; the second one is significant improvements in print speeds. The third one is bringing 4×6 print costs down, and the fourth one is printing from camera phones.

Marty56: What HP printing/imaging products do you think have really changed the industry?

VJ Joshi: The Photosmart printer, Photosmart All-in-One, Instant Share capability on our digital cameras and the 4×6 appliance printer are examples. The first thing is that the image quality and permanence are better than silver halide. Customers can take pictures with any camera and print them in the convenience of their home and there is no PC required.

R Greifeld: How will HP keep up its incredible growth in the imaging segment?

VJ Joshi: The digital photography market is growing very rapidly, and with camera phones we believe that by 2008 more digital prints will be consumed than analog.

Mick: Are average customers willing to print photos at home rather than drop media off at Wal-Mart?

VJ Joshi: The current digital camera users — 80% of them print using their home inkjet printer to print their pictures.The main reason for that is ease of use and instant gratification. It’s all about choice, control and convenience. It’s the choice to print 4×6, 5×7 or 8×10 pictures, greeting cards and album pages. More instant gratification relates to the control of printing them in the convenience in their home.

HK: Hi, Mr. Joshi. Good afternoon. I’d like to know how do you (and HP) view the growing aggression of Dell into the printer market?

VJ Joshi: Dell is not really impacting at all HP’s imaging and printing business. Most of their marketshare gains are at the expense of Lexmark. There is no equivalent of Microsoft and Intel of the PC business in imaging and printing, and there is a lot of innovation going on that Dell will not be able to commercialize. Let me be very specific about printing speed. HP is improving photo printing speed every 18 months. We have our own Moore’s Law where photo printing speed is doubling every 18 months.

Marty56: Is HP threatened by Dell’s launch of new printers? What is HP going to do to stay on top in the printer market?

VJ Joshi: As I spoke of the four trends, we are going to continue to push speed, ease of use, affordability and printing from camera phones.

J Taylor1: What can you do about the decreasing margins in printing as a result of the increasing use of laser printers?

VJ Joshi: HP has access to all three printing technologies: inkjet, laserjet and Indigo. We design products based on customer needs and we feel that HP is going to continue to focus on meeting customer needs.

Honduck: With all the growth in camera phones, does HP have any plans to enter this market?

VJ Joshi: We are working with several phone companies including Nokia, Sony Ericson to print directly from the camera phone to HP printers — easily!

E: Does HP plan to outsource any more of its imaging and printing business overseas?

VJ Joshi: We don’t outsource our R&D. We are a global business with operations all over the world, including U.S., Ireland, Puerto Rico and Singapore.

Jerry: Are there good and inexpensive ways for consumers to digitize their collections of photographs so they can archive and share?

VJ Joshi: HP sells very high quality scanners starting at $79. Some of the scanners have automatic photo feeders to scan stacks of photos very easily.

Franklin: Which companies does HP see as their biggest threat? Analysts recently have raised concerns about HP’s ability to stay competitive with IBM and Dell. Are there any other big players HP is concerned about?

VJ Joshi: No. We always have competitors like Epson, Canon, Lexmark in the imaging and printing space, but their marketshare has always been in teens.

Rich902: Does HP have any plans to start new types of imaging products, or will it remain focused on digital cameras, printing and ink?

VJ Joshi: We have just introduced a CD/DVD labeling technology called “Lightscribe.” This allows customers to label their CDs and DVDs using the laser inside the drive. The Lightscribe CDs and DVDs will come with a special coating designed by HP. The laser can scribe the label directly onto the disc.

Mick: What about basic inkjet IP expiring? Is HP worried about newcomers to inkjet markets?

VJ Joshi: The Imaging and Printing Group has 9000 patents right now, and we add 1,000 patents every year.

LeaGoldman: How do you think HP’s cameras are differentiated from others on the market?

VJ Joshi: HP has designed cameras with ease of use in mind, image quality. HP’s Instant Share allows users to easily e-mail and print the pictures to their friends and family. We also have introduced real-life technologies with our new R707 camera, which allows customers to achieve great image quality through features such as in-camera red eye removal, adaptive lighting technology, in-camera panoramic preview, image advisor capabilities.

D Steward: How do you see images becoming more a part of everyday life?

VJ Joshi: If you look at Internet pages, they are full of images. I see environment becoming more and more image rich.The digital technology allows customers to capture, create and share images very easily.

Kara Swisher: HP is rolling out TVs and iPods. Why does HP need to be in consumer electronics beyond cameras?

VJ Joshi: The consumer electronics, PC and communication technologies are converging. Our customers are asking to view their images, listen to music and watch movies with very easy to use technologies from HP. HP has been successful with our media center PCs and digital photography. We believe that customers are going to demand these technologies to work together. HP wants to make this seamless, delivering the best overall consumer experience.

AHesseldahl: What kind of service oppotunities does HP have ahead of it in printing and imaging?

VJ Joshi: We are working with big enterprise customers to manage their imaging and printing environment to reduce significantly their operating cost and knowledge workers productivity. For example, we are working with Ford in managing their imaging and print environment.

Luce: What’s the most fun part of your role as head of imaging at HP?

VJ Joshi: Imaging and printing is a business which goes from consumer to small and medium business to the enterprise customer. I work closely with our teams to build great experiences for our customers.

R Hagerty: How do you see the use of imaging beyond printing developing in the workplace?

VJ Joshi: We also see tremendous opportunities of imaging technologies in displays even in healthcare applications. Let me give you an example. Inkjet printheads can deliver small volume of ink very accurately. The healthcare companies would like to have a device which can dispense medicine in very low volume, accurately.

Neil Fiske: Is HP at all involved in medical imaging? Does it plan to get involved?

VJ Joshi: I cannot talk about or future plans. But, we always have interest in new businesses.

Katydid: Does HP have any plans to make it less cumbersome to deal with large file sizes of digital photos?

VJ Joshi: The Instant Share technology allows the customer to share their photos very easily without large attachments that are difficult for the receiver to open, if not impossible.

Don Milner: I can`t load my pictures from your camera to AOL? Can`t you make these transfers easier?

VJ Joshi: Don, there are folks in my organization who can help you.

RightFred: Is HP hoping to beome less dependent on its printing and imaging earnings?

VJ Joshi: All of our HP businesses are profitable. We expect the imaging and printing business to continue to contribute to the overall success of the company.

DP: Will HP expand their digital camera line to include a digital SLR for the enthusiast/pro market?

VJ Joshi: We can’t comment on future plans.

Gregoria15: Does HP have further plans for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for mobile printers?

VJ Joshi: We support both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and will continue to do so.

MGumz: What kind of a threat do you think camera phones are to regular digital cameras?

VJ Joshi: No, because customers would like to print in the convenience of their homes using their inkjet printers.

Nina: In your opinion, why do portable printers make sense? Who is using them?

VJ Joshi: Business customers use portable printers to take their printing capability on-site. Insurance and law enforcement are examples. Consumers love portable 4×6 printers to take to parties where they can immediately and conveniently print and share them at the party.

Steveoramajohnson: Is HP at all interested or involved in the document imaging space?

VJ Joshi: Our scanners are used to scan office documents. We also work with our enterprise customers to manage documents and integrate them with various applications.

Intel: What do you see as HP’s biggest challenge in the imaging and printing realm?

VJ Joshi: To continue to grow our business and drive innovation.

DP: Many people still use film and labs because they don`t have to worry about adjusting exposure, contrast, and color balance to get good prints. When will home printing be that easy.

VJ Joshi: Home printing is easy right now; you don’t have to calibrate. As a matter of fact, if you try to develop film at various photo finishing locations, you will get different results. The inkjet prints do not vary as much from printer to printer.

Fdceditors: OK, well I think that’s all VJ has time for today. He’s been very kind to spend so much time with us. VJ we very much appreciate your appearance here today.

VJ Joshi: I want to thank you all for joining me today.

Fdceditors: That’s it for today, and thanks to everyone for their wonderful questions.